“Well, Mr Rose, whoever he is has also found his way to Jake, so he is persistent if nothing else,” she said sadly.
“He is a pain in the ass, baby, but once we find out what he is after we may be able to get him off your case.”
“Do you think I should contact some of my other friends and see if he has contacted them?” Tasha asked, clueless as to what she should or shouldn’t do.
“No, not yet. Leave it as it is because so far he has come up with nothing, but you don’t want to alert people to the fact that they could make a quick buck.”
“Okay,” replied Tasha.
“How is Lizzie, have you told her about the shoot?” Jim sounded excited at the prospect of Lizzie finding out what had been agreed for her.
“Not yet. I thought I’d wait until tomorrow and Lucy has also asked me if I think Pippa would be interested in joining us too, which could antagonise Lizzie rather than unite them,” said Tasha seriously.
“Have they had a fight?” Jim was equally as concerned as Tasha because he didn’t need for them to take sides and find themselves on opposite sides in a feud between fifteen-year-olds.
“No, but Lizzie seems to be laying her claim to me and I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment,” revealed Tasha tearfully.
“Is this one of the complicated things you may be too young for that we didn’t get to discuss?”
“Yes, kind of, but I really need to go, so I will call you or text later.” Tasha offered the make-up artists a small smile as they arrived.
“Okay, baby, but we will sort everything, I promise.”
She hung up and didn’t doubt his promise.
****
Lucy and Tasha were sitting at a window table of their favourite Italian restaurant waiting for everyone else to arrive when Lizzie and Pippa returned from the bathroom giggling. Tasha smiled at the scene and hoped this meant they were getting over any differences and possibly their competing for Tasha’s attention and affection may be a thing of the past. They giggled again as they took their seats on the opposite side of the table to Tasha and both got their phones out and began texting or logging into Facebook, she was unsure which. Lucy excused herself and it was then that Tasha’s phone pinged with a message alert. She smiled as she looked down and saw it was from Jim.
Dinner proved to be an easy affair with lots of laughter and reminiscing. Lucy and Ryan spoke about their future, together, which made Tasha happy to think of her friend loved and settled. Pippa and Dan chatted excitedly about their forthcoming trip to America with Tasha. Jake revealed that he’d been approached by a new magazine in New York to be their celeb’ photographer and he was seriously considering it. Tasha was honest and admitted that she couldn’t quite believe how much her life had changed in such a short time, but insisted she had never been happier and couldn’t wait to be married and settled properly in America. Lizzie got incredibly excited and animated about her dad’s marriage to Tasha and the idea of modelling as a career, making no effort to hide her attempts to recruit Lucy and Jake in helping her make her dreams become a reality.
Tasha only ate a main course and had selected an unfilled pasta dish with a fairly plain tomato sauce which had caused raised eyebrows and strange, questioning glances from Lucy, Dan and Jake.
“Are you on some kind of diet?” asked Lucy eventually.
“No,” protested Tasha a little too loudly and forcefully startling her companions.
“You know that the whole size zero thing is bollocks, don’t you?” asked Jake. “I have photographed size zero models and they are gaunt and often unhealthy. They are not real,” he told her seriously.
“And I don’t know a bloke who finds ultra-skinny a turn on. Most blokes don’t dream of morbidly obese, but curves and lumpy bits are a big turn on,” said Ryan smiling at Lucy as the other men nodded their heads in agreement.
“I know,” protested Tasha. “I am not on a diet, but healthy eating can’t be a bad thing, can it?” she asked as the dessert menu arrived prompting her to excuse herself.
She had barely reached the ladies when Lizzie said, “She’s been acting really weird, since we got here really and other than dinner at yours,” she gestured to Dan and Pippa, “I haven’t seen her eat until tonight. Do you think Tasha is sick? I’ve told Daddy that she doesn’t seem like herself right now.”
